On today’s date in 1858, my third great grandparents Josef Anton Heinzen and Regina Anna Maria Cattarina Giuseppa Filomena Gentinetta were married in the Catholic parish in Glis, Valais, Switzerland. They were the parents of Anne Marie Aloisia Heinzen (Anna Heinzen.)
Josef Anton Heinzen was born in 1834 in Ried, Valais to Johann Josef Heinzen and Anna Maria Vollmar.
Regina Gentinetta was born in 1837 in Brig, Valais to Francesco Giuseppe Gentinetta from Lindwurn and Marie Regina Mutter. As the wedding record indicates Regina Mutter was from Niederwald.
Niederwald, Valais is less than 15 miles from Anna Heinzen’s birthplace Brig. It is also the birthplace of famous hotelier Cesar Ritz. An online tree for Cesar Ritz showed his mother’s name as Cresenzia Heinen. I had to laugh because Anna has a sister named Cresenzia HeinZen.
Anna was 1 of at least 7 children born to Joseph Anton and Regina. The others were:
Immigrant Anne Marie Aloisia Heinzen, my great great grandmother, sailed from Le Havre, France to Castle Garden, New York in 1885. She was born in the hamlet of Lingwurm near Ried-Brig, Canton Valais, Switzerland in 1862. Valais is a Catholic canton that is split between French and German speaking regions. It is in the south of the country that borders Italy. Brig is in the German speaking region. Anna (as she was known in America) was the oldest of at least 6 children born to Anton Joseph Heinzen and Regina Anna Maria Catharina Josepha Philomena Gentinetta.
Anna’s baptism from the cantonal Archives of Valais dated September 3, 1862. She was baptized Anna Maria Aloysia, daughter of Antonii (Latin) Heinzen and Reginae (Latin) Gentinetta, both inhabitants of Ried. Godfather was Joannes Josephus (Latin) Heinzen and godmother was Marianna (illegible to me) m. Heinzen. I believe that means the godmother was the spouse of a Heinzen.The margin says “548 Heinzen Lingwurm”
Does anyone want to help decipher the surname of her godmother? I can email a copy of the record to you. Anna’s grandfather, Francois Joseph Gentinetta was born in Bognanco, Piemonte, Italy. Perhaps he went by Francesco right, except Bognanco speaks a Germanic dialect…
In the interest of not repeating things, previous posts on the Heinzen and Gentinetta are here and here. A post about information received from a wonderful researcher in Switzerland pertaining to Anna’s siblings was previously posted around last Christmas and can be read here: Heinzen – Gentinetta Update (Helen Kirsch Ferraro’s Swiss Ancestry).
Now I would like to detail what we know about Anna in America. Anna had met Louis (Ludwig Fritz Kirsch) in Brig where he had studied to learn how to become a chef. Louis was already in Chicago when she landed at Castle Garden. They married before the Justice of the Peace on September 9, 1886. Anna was Catholic and Louis was Lutheran. On September 22, 1887, their first child, my great grandmother, Helen was born. Their son Albert Victor was born in 1891. Both children were raised as Lutherans. When my great great grandfather naturalized in 1896, Anna automatically became a citizen of the United States as his lawful wife. Women couldn’t naturalize as independent individuals until after they gained the right to vote.
According to the 1900 Federal Census, Anna said she was a mother of 3 and that only 2 were living. Anna and Louis had apparently suffered the loss of a child. Anna’s brother Leo lived with them for a little while when he first arrived in Chicago and worked as a cook like Louis. Leo’s immigrant story will be featured in a different week. Leo and his wife were mentioned on newspapers.com several time.
On July 27, 1906, Anna was in the Chicago Tribune when she was interviewed about her daughter, Helen, who was a major witness in a homicide case. Great Grandmother Helen: Witness in the 1906 Murder Case of Mrs. Louise Gentry. Publishing the address of a witness in a murder trial is really something else huh? That was the only reference I could find on Anna Heinzen Kirsch on newspapers.com. We do not have a photo of her either.
After Anna’s children moved out and started their own families, she became a dressmaker. She lost her husband in 1925 and, since she was alone in the house, she took in immigrant Greek and Italian boarders at her home 46 Linden Place for income. Her daughter Helen passed away in 1927 and in 1931 some of Helen and Carmen’s children came to live with her. By 1940 Anna had moved in with her son Albert, his wife, son and daughter in Downers Grove, Illinois.
Anna passed away in 1948 in Downers Grove, Illinois. She was 86. We have no photos of Anna. Her daughter Helen had green eyes. According to the World War I draft registration of Albert, he was brown haired, brown eyed and slight with a medium height. According to her brother Leo’s draft registration, he was black haired and black eyed.
Her daughter Helen, my great grandmother. She appears to have a dark shade of hair.
Anna’s Son Albert
We already know daughter Helen married Carmen Ferraro and they had 9 children. Albert Victor married Elva Witzigerrenter, who was born in Wisconsin. Albert was a pressman at a printing company, and by 1940 had been made foreman there. They had two children that served in World War II. Lois Kirsch served in the Cadet Nursing Corps. Delbert Kirsch served in the United States Army. Albert died two years after Anna in 1950.
Notes About Researching the Heinzens
About two years ago I was at a wall with Anna and began to research her brother Leo Heinzen. It was an American record pertaining to his marriage that led me to Brig, Valais, Switzerland. About the same time I emailed the archives for the baptismal record of Anna, I had mailed letters to every Heinzen in the Brig area and received help from the sweetest citizens of Switzerland. Cornelia Heinzen and Hans Heinzen both received my letter. Neither of them are related to Anna but sent information about the Heinzens. Another Heinzen forwarded to me a picture of Brig in the valley. Coincidentally, a knitting friend of mine, JL, also has ancestry from Valais and Northern Italy. She looked up information on the Heinzen and Gentinetta and sent me information on both families. Finally, a local historian and author named Renato Arnold received the letter from his father-in-law, a Heinzen. He went to the archives and researched the immediate family and he forwarded the information on Anna’s brothers and sisters. I am glad I took the advice of another researcher and sent those letters to the Brig area.
The wonderful staff in the Valais Archives went above and beyond sending me records, censuses, and information on the Gentinetta, and always replying to me in English. In the future, I would like to find out what Anna’s father did for a living. Also, wouldn’t it be something to trace all the way back to that first Heinzen in Brig to 1389? Eventually the records for Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province in Italy will be online.
Sources:
Archives of Canton Valais, Sion
Renato Arnold, Cornelia Heinzen, Hans Heinzen, and others in Ried-Brig
Cook County Marriages, Births and Deaths
United States Federal Censuses
Castlegarden.org/New York Passenger Lists
United States Veterans Death Indexes
World War I Draft Registration Cards
United States City Directories
World War II Cadet Nursing Card Files
United States Social Security Applications
Louis Kirsch’s naturalization
~Next immigrant: #5 The Disappearing Antonio Ferraro…
If it is not too much to ask, I would like Babbo Natale or La Befana to put more Campania records on Antenati San Beniculturali, for Sinterklaas to put more German Lutheran records on Archion.de, and for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to find Angelo’s Special Inquiry Hearing case file. I would love to find those missing marriage documents in Caserta and see the military documents relating to Francesco Antonio Ferraro!
From Antenati: First page of the 1814 marriage of Natale Iannascoli and Maria Giuseppa Salvitti from Farindola, Pescara, my 4th great grandparents. His marriage documents told me that he was born on Christmas – like his name implies. Her marriage documents told me her father was born in Fara San Martino, Chieti.
Last year I heard ALL of Napoli would be on Antenati this year. HA! Or should I say “ho ho ho!” Nola, Caserta, Salerno, Chieti, Novara how I wish you were on Antenati too!
Antenati is the Italian Archives record repository. It translates as “Ancestors.” It is free. The images are downloadable and clearer than microfilm and of course, enlargeable. Once you have the name of the province your ancestor came from, you can check to see if the archives from that province have been added to Antenati by the Italians. Eventually Italy will have all archives uploaded to the website. The newest added archives are mentioned at the bottom of their homepage under “latest news” or on the news button at the top of the page. And oh YES, on that homepage, if you cannot read Italian, click the Union Jack in the upper left corner!
There are three ways to take you to the archives to look at the civil records. Let me explain the first way. You can click Regions and Sources on the homepage. See the picture below. I selected Regions and Sources and this is the page it took me to: Regions and Sources (Territorio e le fonte)
When I get to this page I clicked on the map of Italy in the Piemonte Region at the top of the boot to see if Verbania records have been added. I got the message that the “images not yet available” for this province. But by hitting Verbania, or any other province listed for Piemonte, Antenati gave me the email address of their archives. Note the three tabs that can be clicked at the bottom of the left half of the image for Information, Civil State, and Military drafts. Important information is listed telling a researcher what is available and where it is available if it is not online. If I am checking for Torino, look at all of the information it gave to me, expecially on how to find military records in English:
Torino even has a fourth tab where links for other sources can be found. Very, very nice Torino researchers. I am jealous! If I was looking for records in Torino on Antenati I would hit “Browse civil state records.”
The second way to get to where I want to browse records of my ancestors is by selecting the blue wording “State Archives” on the home page. I would be taken to a page listing all of the State Archives available for browsing on Antenati, to this page. One does not need to go to the first option if they know their archives are on Antenati. I like this way most of the time because I know that I am usually heading to the Archives of the Province of Pescara. At this point now, if looking at the records on Antenati, English is of no use. All of the browsing I do in the records on this website will be in Italian.
After I hit my selection of “Archivio di Stato di Pescara” I am taken to a page that looks like this:
Most state archives on Antenati have this same setup or will have the same setup once all civil records are added to Antenati.* In Pescara, and other states that were once part of the Kingdom of Naples, the years for each designation of records listed above is this:
Stato Civile Napoleonico: 1809-1815
Stato Civile della Restaurazione: 1816-1860
Stato Civile Italiano: 1861-1930ish (note that birth records won’t go past 1910 because of privacy laws)
In some of the northern states, the Napoleonic records start earlier. Indexes made by the town scribe for each year of records are either at the beginning or end of the records in Pescara. But remember if you are searching the 1809 records in Pescara, there are not many indexes in any of the record batches. Town officials didn’t keep them yet. You will have to read each record to look for your ancestor. If you are searching a town with indexes for 1809 in Pescara you are very lucky.
After you decide what time period to search you are taken to an alphabetical listing of all of the communes in that archives. From there you are taken to the list of records available for the commune.
*Some archives on Antenati have church records in the database. I think I saw one the other day going back to the 1400s. The Archives of Rome do not resemble the Pescara setup above either. The Comune of Naples is setup by its quarters and contains few indexes.
The Third Way to Access the Database’s Records:
At the home page, at the top you could have clicked “Browse.” Don’t worry, just hit the Union Jack in the top right corner again if the site has reverted back to Italian. It would have taken you to a page that looks like this:
The only thing you need to fill out is the place and the year fields. Hit “Search.” After a few searching moments a page will appear with the archival holdings available in the database. To browse the desired records you will need to hit the word “Apri” on the left next to the records. This way has the same desired affect as the first method I told you about. Once again, everything beyond the word “apri” will be in Italian.
The final feature of the website to tell you about is the “Browse Names” option on the home page. If you click that option on the homepage you will be taken to this page where you can search indexes done by volunteers. Below is an image of the page.
The area pointed out in red tells you which archives on Antenati have been already been indexed. The fields are self-explanatory but I give a warning. Only a few archives have been indexed so far AND in Pescara, particularly in Penne and Farindola, the indexes aren’t complete. One should search for their ancestors B/M/D the old fashioned way- by browsing the indexes done by the town officials yearly at the beginning or end of each year of records.
This is a quick example: I typed in my great grandmother’s last name in the Cognome field: Merlenghi. I know she was born in Farindola so I put that in the field for place (Comune/Localita). I decided to not fill in anything else because Farindola is small and I hit search. She is right at the top of names as you can see below.
I hit “Apri” under the names of her parents. It takes me to this page and there is her birth record!
One more tip when searching in Italian civil records: The additional marriage documents you need in the allegati or processetti are numbered and match the same number at the top of the marriage act. Good luck!
Have a wonderful Natale and here is hoping you find that elusive, archaic Italian record this year! Maybe this Christmas post will help someone find it or hundreds of them like me ~~~~~ Buon Natale!
Torino even has a fourth tab where links for other sources can be found. Very, very nice Torino researchers. I am jealous! If I was looking for records in Torino on Antenati I would hit “Browse civil state records.”
Most state archives on Antenati have this same setup or will have the same setup once all civil records are added to Antenati.* In Pescara, and other states that were once part of the Kingdom of Naples, the years for each designation of records listed above is this:
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 